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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Susan Nicholas Davey (b. 11 Aug 1834, Cornwall, England)

Today is
the 178th anniversary of the birth of Susan Nicholas Davey (1834- ). She was the second child of my husband’s
great-great grandfather and an older sister of his great grandfather, Frederick
Henry Davey (1853-1915).

Susan is
one of my researching mysteries that I have been actively working on. As you can see, I have a date for her birth
but no date for her death.

Susan
was born 11 Aug 1834 and baptized at St. Agnes parish in Cornwall, England on 2
Nov 1834 (1). Familysearch.org has
placed the Cornwall Parish Registers 1538-1900 online and although there are no
indexes, I was able to find the baptism record because I knew her birthdate
from a photocopy of the Davey Family Bible.
The family was living at Mount Hawke.

I found
the family in the 1841 & 1851 census.
They emigrated to the U.S. sometime between this census and the birth of
the last child, Frederick Henry Davey in 1853 in Berks Co, Pennsylvania.

Susan
marries Joseph Muir at St. Peter’s Church in Reading, Pennsylvania on 4 Jul
1854 (3). There were two other Davey
family baptisms performed on the same day.
Unfortunately, the marriage record shows no reference to parent’s names,
so nothing is known of Joseph’s parents.

St. Peter's Church, Reading, Berks Co, PA - Muir-Davey marriage

Susan
and Joseph are next found in the 1860 census at Jeffersonville, Clark Co,
Indiana (4).They have one son, William,
who was born sometime around 1855.Her
husband was listed as being born in Pennsylvania and worked as an
engineer.The question, what kind of
engineer?My guess would be a locomotive
engineer, but it was possible he was some other kind of engineer.

1860 Clark Co, Indiana - Jeffersonville

On 10
Sep 1867, Joseph Muir died and is buried in Walnut Ridge Cemetery, in
Jeffersonville, Indiana (5).This is the
only information I have of Joseph.I
need to do some research to see if any newspapers from Jeffersonville, IN or
Louisville, KY exist for that time period.

I lose
track of Susan now. Her son, William is
living with his grandparents, Tom & Mary Davey in Jeffersonville, Indiana
in the 1870 census (6). But where is
Susan? She is later found in Cincinnati,
Ohio. The obituary of her father, Thomas
Davey stated “Mrs. Susan Wellman of Cincinnati” in Feb 1886 and in Sep 1893,
her mother Mary Davey’s obituary listed her as “Mrs. Sue Wellman of Washington
Court House, O” (7).

So,
Susan married a “Wellman” sometime. No
idea when, but I did find who. Beginning
with the 1897 Cincinnati City Directory, I find on p 1630, “Wellman, Susan N,
wid. Herman H, h 408 Hopkins” (8).

1897 Cincinnati City Directory

She
is found at this address until 1902.When viewing the 1900 census, more information is present.The correct birth month and year, the fact
she was born in England, and the same address (9).The year of arrival at 1859 is the only discrepancy.
However I have not found a marriage
record for Herman H Wellman and Susan Davey Muir.

Herman
H. Wellman died 18 Mar 1897 in Cincinnati, Ohio (10). Probate was started on 8 Mar 1898 and Susan
N. Wellman is listed as administratrix (11).
When looking at the probate papers, it appears that nothing was done to
finish the probate until 1923 when and entry suggests her death (but gives no
actually death date).

I have
searched the various death indexes and cemetery indexes for Susan Wellman but
have had no luck so far. Questions to
ask & answer: Did she remarry? Did she move away from Cincinnati? Where is her son, William Muir? These are next on my to-do list. I sure would like to find her.

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About Me

I currently research my own family. I became interested in researching my family when I was pregnant with my first child. I had always liked hearing the stories told by my elderly aunts but never thought about the continuity until my daughters were born. Now I wished I had taped those stories! Now that I'm retired, I'm spending much more time working on my families and now plan to write about my adventures into the past.

I am currently on the board of directors for two societies: Contra Costa County Genealogical Society and the California Genealogical Society. I also volunteer with the Contra Costa County Historical Society.

I love working with the environment, volunteering with the California Phenology Project through the John Muir National Park, and planting native gardens with the Friends of Alhambra Creek and the New Leaf Collaborative (a part of the Martinez Unified School District).

I love teaching and currently give presentations on Using City Directories, Beginning Genealogy, and Breaking Brick Walls Tips.